APSU and school system team up for Kennedy Center’s Partners In Education program

Clarksville, TN —The Clarksville-Montgomery County School System (CMCSS) and Austin
Peay State University’s Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts (CECA) are among
seven teams nationwide selected to join the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing
Arts’ Partners in Education, a program designed to assist arts organizations throughout
the nation to develop or expand education partnerships with their local school systems.
A primary focus of these partnerships is to provide sustainable and robust arts-based
professional development for teachers.

Partnering with teachers is fundamental to arts-based learning. When the community
works together to support and provide teachers with high-quality and continuous arts-based
professional development, teachers and students are exposed to new access points for
learning.

“The Kennedy Center has been a national leader in arts education for decades and has
more recently been at the forefront of a nation-wide movement towards arts integration
in education,” Dr. Janice Crews, CECA executive director, said. “Locally, CECA and
CMCSS have made the arts a growing priority in our community. Participating in Partners
in Education together will strengthen the relationship between CECA and CMCSS and
give local educators access to the Kennedy Center's amazing resources. I'm thrilled
to join this program and to see the positive impact it makes in our region.”

A team consisting of representatives from CMCSS and CECA will participate in the Partners
in Education Institute, April 23–26, at the Kennedy Center. During the intensive four-day
institute, team members develop a plan customized to their community for how the partners
will work together to create or further establish arts-based professional development
programs for area teachers. Information learned at the Institute has proven invaluable
to past participants who have left the Kennedy Center with more confidence in their
ability to create their own professional development programs for teachers.

The new teams will join the nearly 100 teams from 39 states and the District of Columbia
already participating in the Partners in Education program, now in its 27th year.
In addition, partnership teams receive national support from the Kennedy Center through
access to Center resources, including its roster of teaching artists to work directly
with the school and students; follow-up consultation and ongoing communication to
assist teams in program and partnership development, as well as annual multi-day convenings
and intensive seminars.

“The Clarksville-Montgomery County School System is committed to providing access
to high-quality arts education for every student, every day,” Millard L. House II,
CMCSS Director of Schools, said. “Our district’s shared vision is that all students
will graduate college and career ready. We recognize that a career in the arts is
a viable option for our students, but we also know that whether students choose to
pursue the arts as a career or not, the lessons and experiences obtained from an exceptional,
integrated arts education will benefit them and our society.”